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Cover art, entitled “Onnagata,” by Hannah Carroll, East Asian Studies major at Wittenberg University.
Get PDFKabuki is a traditional Japanese theater art in which men play both male and female roles. The female role is termed onnagata, hence the title of the piece, and the act of putting on the makeup could be a way of transitioning into the role itself.
The pattern you see in the background is seigaiha, a motif of repeating waves used in Japanese art and clothing patterns to represent eternal prosperity or power. It is said to have originated from ancient Chinese maps depicting oceans
Fukushima’s Black Bags: How Citizen Scientist Activism is framed by Cultural Contexts, Environmental Justice, and Ethical Reasoning
Get PDFFukushima Prefecture, on the Pacific coast north of Tokyo, Japan, is spotted with radioactively contaminated matter packed into black bags as a result of the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant run by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). Through a lens of local culture and the core ideas of human rights and deontological ethical reasoning, I argue that a solution to Fukushima’s remaining radioactive mess, symbolized and made visible by the black bags, must be created by the citizens of the affected areas and backed by TEPCO and the government. Citizen scientists, defined as any person with scientific proficiency or expertise who translates between laypeople and professionals, provide a crucial link between local and expert. The pursuit of a land-use based approach to reorganize and revitalize Fukushima must come from those who live there, because only then a feasible solution will be realized.
This essay will examine the conversation of what should be done to remedy and who should have a say in what happens with the remains of the 3/11/11 Triple Disaster encapsulated in the black bags. If you were Japan’s Minister of the Environment, who would you decide should have a voice in resolving the dilemma? How is the tension between insider and outsider groups resolved? Who should be invited to the table to make a decision about what to do? How to move forward in Fukushima is a question yet unresolved
Japan’s Next Top Mascot: An Analysis of the Use of Character Marketing and Commercial Cute in Japan
Get PDFJapan is absolutely obsessed with mascots, yet these lovable characters are just one part of the larger narrative of the commodification of cute (kawaii) within Japan. This paper will seek to understand what “cute” is, and how it has become so pervasive in contemporary Japanese society, namely through the use of character marketing. I will also take a look at market trends that assisted the rise of commercial cute in Japan’s postwar economy. Moreover, I will address three examples of cute characters by exploring the rise to power of Hello Kitty and that of two regional mascots (yuru-kyara). I will analyze the ways in which cute characters and products based off them are able to provide empathy and bridge the alienation of the modern age. This paper will provide arguments supporting the economic and emotional support that cute creates for Japan, as well as discovering how cute has gone global through an analysis of Japanese soft power, which forms the basis of Japanese cultural diplomacy
“The Serene Skies of Kobe”: Memories of the Kobe Jewish Refugee Community, 1940–1941
Get PDFIn the early years of the Second World War, when the international community had effectively closed its doors to refugees, 4,608 European Jews found haven in Kobe, Japan. Although the Jewish refugee community in Japanese-occupied Shanghai has received attention in both the academic and popular spheres, its counterpart in Kobe has largely been overlooked. Nevertheless, refugees’ memories of Kobe are remarkably rich. In this paper, I analyze oral histories of the Jewish refugee experience in Kobe as examples of what Takashi Fujitani, Geoffrey White and Lisa Yoneyama call “critical memories.” Memories of the Jewish refugee experience in Kobe are, by the definition of Fujitani et al., “perilous” for two reasons. First, there are fewer and fewer alive to remember this often overlooked subset of Holocaust memories. And second, their memories challenge—or at least complicate—dominant memories of World War II, principally by recalling an instance of Japanese moral superiority on the international stage. I have asked not only how these oral histories challenge dominant memories, but also how power dynamics inform the memories articulated. To investigate this question, I use Michel Foucault’s definition of power in “The Subject and Power” as “a mode of action which does not act directly and immediately on others [but] upon their actions.
Depictions of Korean Masculinity through The Marines Who Never Returned
No full textThis paper will analyze The Marines Who Never Returned (1963), a war film from the Golden Age of Korean Cinema in the 1960s to show how men demonstrated their masculinity and how depictions of masculinity were constructed in the wake of the Korean War. Specifically, this will be achieved by analyzing the story arc of one of the soldiers named Kim Hae-bong and by analyzing the brothel as a site of masculinity
In Dedication: Dr. Terumi Imai
No full textEvery year, the East Asian Studies Journal is dedicated to a Wittenberg University faculty or staff member who is actively involved in the East Asian Studies Program, promotes academic achievement and encourages students to stretch beyond their limits in their chosen fields of study. The student staff would like to dedicate this year’s issue to Dr. Terumi Imai, Associate Professor of Languages.Every year, the East Asian Studies Journal is dedicated to a Wittenberg University faculty or staff member who is actively involved in the East Asian Studies Program, promotes academic achievement and encourages students to stretch beyond their limits in their chosen fields of study. The student staff would like to dedicate this year’s issue to Dr. Terumi Imai, Associate Professor of Languages.
Dr. Imai received her B.A in English from Rikkyo University in Tokyo, and later received both her M.A. and Ph.D. in Linguistics in Michigan State University, where she taught Japanese language as a Teaching Assistant. She became a member of the Wittenberg academic staff in 2003, and since that time, has been known for her dedication to her classes, and holding her students to the highest quality of work and responsibility. Dr. Imai is the advisor of the East Asian Studies Club, which is responsible for many of the East Asian related events on campus. She is well known for her active engagement with students both in the classroom and outside of it, through attending academic conferences, events, going to restaurants with students, and even hosting dinner at her house. Dr. Imai prepares students with a strong basis in Japanese, so that they can be successful while studying abroad, and far beyond that. To Dr. Imai, from your students: thank you for supporting us every step of the way, and for always encouraging us to push ourselves in our studies. Words cannot express our gratitude
